Eyesight to the Blind
by FekketCantenel
Summary: Third chapter is up! And I changed my name! PLEASE REVIEW!!! This is the story of a man and his little blind daughter, running from bounty hunters after the girls mother dies. Will Spike be able to hand them over to a woman everyone claims is evil?
1. Amazing journey

Disclaimer: I don't own Cowboy Bebop or "Tommy", an album by The Who (which was my inspiration for this fic).  
  
Eyesight to the Blind  
  
By FekketC  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Amazing journey  
  
It was how every adventure began. Jet was cruising the internet for bounties, Spike and Faye were lying around smoking or cursing at each other, and Edward was doing God knows what on the computer. Ein was nowhere to be found, but everyone assumed he was sleeping somewhere in the ship and wouldn't be bothered until he was hungry or wanted Edward to play with him.  
  
Jet sighed as his eyes began to hurt from staring at the screen for so long. It had been hours, and still nothing. It was like the entire solar system had turned into saints, or else every ISSP station had been bought off. He was prepared to quit for the day when something caught his eye. A banner at the top of a site. A personal bounty of fifteen million woolongs. "Bingo!" he whispered, calling up information on the bounty. A woman, with waist long black hair and pale blue eyes. She smiled at the camera as if she didn't even see it.  
  
Spike read over his shoulder, and smiled. "Should be easy to catch a blind bounty."  
  
Jet jumped, then glared at him. "Don't do that." Returning his attention to the screen, he kept reading. "Hope Johnson. Never committed any crimes, never even got a parking ticket. But there's a personal bounty on her." Jet frowned. "Make thatÉ four personal bounties, ranging from one million to thirty million woolong."  
  
Faye smiled from her place on the couch. "Then we'll take the thirty million. Spike's right for once, this will be easy."  
  
Spike glared at her over his shoulder. "Hey, this one's mine."  
  
"No way. I call dibbs."  
  
"Too bad."  
  
Jet held up his hands. "Enough already! I have a headache, so I don't want you two fighting. Both of you go after the bounty, whoever catches her first gets the money. If you decide, by some freak of nature, to work together, you split the money fifty-fifty. Alright?"  
  
Spike shrugged. "Sounds good to me. Since I'll catch the bounty."  
  
Faye stuck her tongue out at him. "We'll see."  
  
Ed looked up from the Tomato, removing her goggles. "Edward wants to go too!"  
  
Faye smiled. "Okay, Ed, you're with me. Where was our little paycheck last seen?" Ed surfed for a moment, then stood. Leaping across the room in a single graceful bound, she landed on the couch next to Faye and began whispering in her ear. Faye nodded, listening carefully, then smiled. "Alright, let's go!" she said as she and her new partner left.  
  
Spike watched them leave, and turned to Jet. "Have any clues for me?"  
  
Jet shook his head, shutting down the computer. "Nope. I'm going to bed."  
  
Spike frowned, running a hand through his hair. "Well, then where do I..." Tomato's flashing screen caught his eye. He stepped towards it, sat down, and picked up the goggles. "I wonder," he said, starting to put them on. Suddenly a wave of sixth sense washed over him, a terrifying feeling that warned him he was doing something extremely stupid. Shivering against the sudden chill in the room he tore the goggles from his head and tossed them aside. "Okay, I'll find out the old fashioned way," he muttered.  
  
---------------  
  
Faye expertly landed the Redtail in the middle of the street and got out. She glanced around at the moonlit street, at the bums sleeping in the shadows and the muggers waiting quietly, and turned to the ship. "All clear, Ed."  
  
Ed leapt out of the ship and looked around, then pointed to a large apartment building. "There," she whispered, heading forward.  
  
Faye grabbed the girl's collar and held her back. "Ed, listen to me. There are two kinds of places on Mars; the kind where you can run and skip, and the kind where you walk slowly and keep a gun in your back pocket."  
  
The hacker looked up at her temporary partner. "This is one of the quiet places, Faye-Faye?"  
  
Faye sighed, glancing towards the dark alley where two questionable men were standing. "Yeah, Ed. Now stay close and follow me." The crossed the street slowly, keeping their eyes open. To Ed this was a grand adventure, and every shadow held a monster. To Faye, it was all part of a fairly dangerous job. Not that she was worried.  
  
A trip up a rusty flight of stairs, a bit of searching, and a few mistakes eventually led them to the right door. It was dark wood, set deep in the concrete wall, with deep scratches running through it. It was unadorned, except for a plain stainless steel plaque that said 977. Reaching up, Faye rapped her knuckles against it. The door cracked open, and a face peered out from Faye's waist level. It was a little girl with black hair, and pale blue eyes. She looked like a miniature version of the bounty. The girl stood, silent for a moment, then smiled. "Who are you?" she asked, looking up in the general direction of Faye's face.  
  
"Um, I'm here to speak to Hope," Faye said, suddenly uncomfortable. She didn't like blind people.  
  
The girl's smile turned sad. "I'm sorry, but she... she..." The girl appeared close to tears for a moment, but composed herself. "She died a month ago. A... burglar. I'm sorry. It's just me and my daddy."  
  
Another face appeared, at Faye's eye level. The man had neat brown hair and calm brown eyes, and nodded politely. "Hope's gone. Please leave." His voice was terse, his eyes hard.  
  
Faye was uncertain for a moment, but finally nodded. "Alright," she said, turning to leave. "Come on Ed... Ed?" Hearing the little girl laugh, Faye turned. Ed was standing in front of the girl, making faces. The blind girl could tell the faces by running her fingers down Ed's face, and giggled. Her father was smiling, his hand on his daughter's head. Faye frowned, annoyed. "I said come on, Ed! There's no bounty here."  
  
As Ed waved goodbye and turned away, the girl's father looked up. "Hope... had a bounty on her?"  
  
Faye shrugged, climbing down the stairs. "Just some personal bounties. If you report her death, you won't get people like us knocking on your door."  
  
The man nodded slowly, closing the door.  
  
------------  
  
Spike walked down the cold street, a chill breeze washing over him. Occasionally he heard a siren or car honk in the distance, but mostly the night was silent. The only light emanated from the occasional streetlamp, though they were unreliable, and usually blinked on and off or just stayed off. In the distance he heard the Redtail taking off. Looks like Faye had beaten him to the mark, but he already knew that the bounty wasn't there anymore. He stopped in front of an old boarded up warehouse and looked up at its door. There was a small hole near the bottom, large enough for a very small person to crawl through. Grabbing a paper clip out of his pocket he picked the rusted padlock and slipped inside.  
  
Three children were huddled in the corner under a thin blanket, trying to keep warm. They looked up at Spike, and their eyes widened. "I'm not going to hurt you," Spike said quietly. "I just need some info."  
  
The oldest, a boy who looked about ten, carefully got to his feet. He treated his right leg carefully, leaning against the wall and putting his weight on his left foot. "We don't know nothing," the boy said quietly.  
  
"Not even about a woman named Hope?"  
  
All three children looked up sharply. The smallest, a two-year old girl with dark brown hair, clapped her hands. "Hope is here?"  
  
"Shut up!" the oldest boy said quickly. He turned back to Spike. "Never heard of her."  
  
"Really." Spike sighed, and reached into his pocket. He had been saving the sandwich for a special occasion, since he had hurriedly made it out of the last bread and ham on the ship. But this was an emergency. He took it out of the plastic bag and split it in half, handing one half to the boy. For a moment the boy hesitated, then took it. "I'll give you the other half when you tell me where Hope is," Spike said quietly.  
  
The boy broke the sandwich into three peices, giving the largest to the little girl. He resisted the urge to bite into the meal and instead looked up at Spike. "She was... a doctor. Sort of. My leg was hurt in a car accident, and she found me and took me to her apartment. She healed it up. It's been getting better and better, and soon it'll be normal again."  
  
"And where is she, now?"  
  
"She... She..." He glanced back at his friends, who sighed and nodded. "She died a few weeks ago. It was... awful. She fell out the window of her apartment, and... and..."  
  
Spike shook his head. "That's alright," he said, and handed the boy the other half of the sandwich. As an afterthought he reached into his pocket. I really can't afford it, he thought, but then these kids can afford it even less. He pulled out a small wad of bills and handed them to the boy. "Get some warmer clothes, and then go to an orphanage," he instructed. "There's an okay one in the church of Saint Catherine, just a few blocks from here. Alright?"  
  
The kids nodded. Spike left, locking the door behind him. The little girl looked up at the older boy. "Who was that?" she asked, taking another bite of her sandwich.  
  
The boy shook his head. "I have no idea."  
  
--------------  
  
Despite leaving second and arriving at the scene second, Spike managed to make it back to the Bebop before Faye and Edward. Though it didn't help their time that Edward had insisted on stopping to get a souvinir. He looked up at the two who entered the lounge. "Back so soon?"  
  
Faye snickered at him. "Guess you gave up?"  
  
Spike shook his head. "I already came and went. The bounty's dead."  
  
Faye sighed. "We know."  
  
Ed sighed, walking dejectedly to her computer and sitting down. "Bounty gone. Can't get bounty. No woolongs for Ed."  
  
"Me and Ed stuck around a while, asked a few neighbors," Faye said, sitting down. "Looks like the bounty really is a dead end. No woolong for me either."  
  
Spike frowned. "Then her relatives didn't report her death?"  
  
Faye shook her head. "Nope."  
  
Spike turned on the computer and prepared a communication to the people providing the thirty million woolong reward. "Guess we'd better be polite and let them know." A few seconds later an old woman came on the screen. She was pale, with baggy cheeks and folds under her eyes. Her eyes were like tiny shrewd emeralds, and she wasn't smiling.  
  
"What is it?" she asked, annoyed.  
  
"You're the one who posted a thirty million woolong bounty on a Hope Johnson?"  
  
The woman suddenly seemed much more friendly. "Why yes! She's my granddaughter, you see, and she ran away several years ago. Oh, I was out of my wits with worry. So you've found her?"  
  
Spike shook his head. "Sorry, but I just went after her, and her family said she died a month ago."  
  
The woman looked angry enough to curse, but composed herself. "Er, that's awful. You said she had family?"  
  
"Yeah, a husband and a little girl."  
  
"Er, was the girl... blind?"  
  
Spike looked up at Faye, who nodded wearily. "Yeah."  
  
The woman's face lit up. "Oh, well, I'd love to meet her. I'll tell you what; you bring me the girl and her, er, father, and I'll still give you the thirty million woolong."  
  
Faye leapt up. "Cominatcha!" she cried, heading out of the room. Ed stayed at her computer, typing with her toes, intent on what was on the screen.  
  
The woman on the communication screen smiled graciously at Spike. "You're doing me a great service, bringing me my little granddaughter."  
  
Spike frowned. "I thought you said her mother was your granddaughter."  
  
"Oh, er, I meant my little great-granddaughter."  
  
"Right. Well, I think I'll go help Faye get them for you, okay?"  
  
"Oh, please do. See you soon!" The screen shut off.  
  
Spike sat for a moment, watching the black screen, then shook his head. "Something about thisÉ" He sighed, standing, and headed for the door. Suddenly a great force slammed into his back, and he nearly hit the wall. "What the-" he cried, trying to see.  
  
"Edward is coming, too!" Edward cried, clinging to Spike's back.  
  
Regaining his breath, Spike nodded. "Sure. I need you to tell me where they live anyway. JustÉ get off my back, okay?"  
  
Ed slid from his back and onto the floor, and sat grinning up at him. Suddenly she was on her feet and dancing out the door, singing about woolong and the blind girl.  
  
Spike stood for a moment, his hand over his face. "What am I getting myself into?" he wondered, heading out.  
  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
That's the first chapter. I'll send in more as soon as someone says they like the idea. So read if you want, review if you care, flame if you must, and stay gravy! 


	2. Do you think it's alright?

Disclaimer: I don't own Cowboy Bebop or "Tommy", an album by The Who (which was my inspiration for this fic). By the way, the symbol "É", appeared by accident several times last chapter. The thing is, I write fics on a Mac and upload them on a Windows, so sometimes the symbols get screwed. I promise it won't happen again (please don't hurt me). Now, on with the fic, and thanks to the Blindy, Tearoses, and Maiden Genisis for your reviews!!!  
  
Eyesight to the Blind  
  
By FekketC  
  
Edward stood at the door, staring in at the empty darkness. The door was open, a cold draft flowing in. No lights were on inside. Spike and Faye caught up, gasping for breath. "Ed, I told you not to run ahead," Faye said, annoyed, then looked up at the door. "Hey, it's open."  
  
Spike shivered. "Something's wrong," he muttered under his breath, pushing past Edward to the door. He stepped inside, rapping his knuckles on the door. "Hello? Is anyone here?" he called.  
  
A metal object flew out of the darkness, catching Spike in the stomach. He doubled over, coughing, clutching the edge of the door. The figure of an old woman emerged from the dark, holding another baseball bat. This one was wood, but she waved it threateningly in front of her like a club. "Go away," the woman growled. "Jonah and 'Rika want nothing of you people."  
  
Faye held up her hands. "Woah, woah, we're not here to hurt them, we're from Hope's grandmother."  
  
The woman narrowed her eyes. "That witch isn't Hope's grandmother!"  
  
Spike stopped gasping and looked up at the woman. "She's not?"  
  
Edward suddenly bounced forward, dissappearing into the other rooms. She returned a moment later, shaking her head. "The funny blind girl and her daddy are gone-gone," she said sadly. "All gone, all gone."  
  
The woman lowered her bat and sat down on a couch. Her shoulders shook as tears began to flow. "They ran away. Afraid that you might come back." She sighed wearily. "The last month has been so strange..." Edward sat down on the floor to listen, and Faye relaxed slightly. Spike however, kept a wary eye on the bat in the woman's hand.  
  
------  
  
Session 2  
  
Do you think it's alright?  
  
------  
  
"They never told me the details, but Hope had a kind of power. I'm not sure what it was, but I did know there were people after her. They wanted to use her power. One of them was an old woman, an old witch. Not the magic kind, the evil kind. She had been Hope's legal guardian, since her parents had been killed several years ago. When the woman found out about Hope's power, she abused her into using it. So Hope ran away when she was sixteen, and met Jonah. They ran around a while, got married and had little 'Rika. They moved in here after 'Rika was born. I became her nanny, sort of, while Hope and Jonah worked. Hope's a very common name, you see, so no one came looking for her."  
  
The woman stopped for a moment and stared into space. "But she wasn't an ordinary woman. There was something about her... something..."  
  
"Something that made you feel like you weren't alone anymore," Spike said softly.  
  
The woman looked at him curiously, and nodded. "Yes, exactly like that." She placed a shaking hand over her own heart. "She left this kind of warm feeling in me after we met, like for a while I could forget the things... the things that had happened in the past..."  
  
Faye wriggled impatiently. Next to blind people the thing she liked the least were long, sappy stories. "Get on with it," she demanded.  
  
"A month ago, 'Rika came running into my apartment, crying and wailing. After I managed to calm her down she told me a big man had come and hurt Hope. I took her back to the apartment and saw Jonah standing there." She pointed to one corner of the room, where a faint red stain still coated the carpet and wall. "There was a bloodstain, but no body. Jonah never did tell me what he did with the body."  
  
"And then what?" Spike asked.  
  
"Jonah wandered about in shock for a few days, while little 'Rika stayed in her room and cried. I tried to clean up everything, but nothing would get rid of that..." She took a deep, shaking breath. "...stain. And worse, the two of them were so depressed, I couldn't cheer them up. So I left them alone to think things out. Then, just an hour ago, Jonah came to ask me to lock up for him. He and 'Rika had to leave in a hurry. He told me about you two," she said, nodding to Faye and Edward. "Told me to watch out in case you came."  
  
Faye sighed. "Great. The bounty's skipped. What now?"  
  
Edward thought a moment. "Edward will hack into the local gates, find Rika and her father-person."  
  
"They might be using false names," Spike said. "Or even disguises."  
  
Edward grinned. "Edward will find them, don't worry."  
  
Suddenly the bat was resting on Spike's shoulder. "You have to promise me," the old woman said quietly, "that you won't hurt them if you find them."  
  
Spike carefully pushed the bat away from his head, which was beginning to ache from lack of sleep. "We promise." He frowned thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "Though wether or not we're going to turn them in, I'm beginning to wonder."  
  
"Forty million woolongs is worth looking into, Spike," Faye insisted.  
  
"You'd turn in your own grandmother for a few woolongs," Spike muttered.  
  
Faye made a face at him, then turned to Edward. "We'd better go, Ed." Edward nodded, looking around at the empty apartment one last time, before walking out the door. Faye followed her out, and Spike started to do the same, when he stopped and turned back to the red stain. Frowning he walked over to it, reached down and touched the carpet. He raised his hand to his face and sniffed it, and shook his head.  
  
"What is it?" the woman asked impatienty.  
  
"Nothing," Spike said, standing and turning away. "Nothing at all."  
  
-------  
  
Jet rubbed the sleep from his eyes and nodded. "Well, yeah, I guess we could do that," he said, switching on his computer. "Ed, you hack into the mainframe, and I'll search." Edward nodded, plugging her goggles into the Bebop computer and getting to work. It was a slow day and she was tired, so it took her about thirty seconds to hack in.  
  
Wearily she stood, her head nodding. "Jet-person's clear to go." She fell backward onto the couch, her legs in the air, and promptly fell asleep.  
  
Jet turned to the computer and thought for a moment. "Narrow it down to all flights in the last hour," Jet typed in, and was rewarded with a list of aproximately ten thousand people. "Now narrow it down to pairs." Five hundred pairs of people travelling together.  
  
"Think you could specify travelling reason?" Spike suggested.  
  
Jet shook his head. "Could be anything. Assuming they've taken disguises, and that 'escape' isn't an accepted reason." He smiled. "Narrow the pairs to a short person and tall person."  
  
"What if he hid her in his coat, or in a bag?" Faye wondered. "Poor people tend to try to get out of paying more than they have to."  
  
"A possibility," Jet said, nodding. He checked the list that had been brought up, but none of the hundred and eleven pairs could be who they were looking for. He spent the next few hours checking the lists, narrowing them down any way he could. Absolutely nothing. "Maybe they didn't take a gate," Jet muttered, exiting the database.  
  
Spike looked up. He had nearly fallen asleep on the couch, but Edward's feet kept getting in his face. "You think they had a cruiser?"  
  
"Might be," Jet said, ready for another nap. "Ed."  
  
Edward sat up on the couch, her eyes still closed. Standing she walked forward and put on her goggles again, and after a few seconds took them back off. "Sleepy sleepy," she said quietly, going back to the couch and lying back down. In a moment it appeared as if she had never moved.  
  
Jet looked at the screen. "She brought up Jonah's account?" he said, confused, then looked closer. "It's at zero. But recently a withdrawal was made... two million woolongs!!!"  
  
Spike and Faye were suddenly standing next to him. "You've got to be kidding," Faye said, staring at the screen. "You're not kidding," she said slowly.  
  
In a moment Jet was searching through hyperspace. He could do a good hacking himself, and not many cruisers went for under two million woolong. Soon he had a few leads, and narrowed them down quickly. "Three cruisers bought in the area in the last few hours, all the buyers caucasian men with beards and children. I'll look up the flight schedule of each one, and have you and Faye go after two. I'll take the third. Remember, just confirm that your target is in fact the bounty. We'll catch the guy all at once, as a team."  
  
"There goes that teamwork thing again," Faye muttered, heading for the Redtail.  
  
---------  
  
Spike smiled slightly as he headed down the alley. He was still on Mars, but a different colony. This alley held the entrance to an esteemed bar and club. And near the front of the line was a man who fit Jonah's description. Beard, brown eyes, tall. "Hey," Spike said, nodding to the man.  
  
The man looked up at him, one eyelid twitching. His clothes were dirty, and his breath smelled like rotten eggs. "Whadyou wan?"  
  
"Nothing much," Spike said, shrugging. "Unless you'll come along quietly."  
  
"Uh?" the guy said, staring at Spike. "Whadyou talkin' about?"  
  
"Pleased to meet you, Jonah Kuroki," Spike said, pulling out his gun.  
  
"Daddy, daddy!" a voice cried. Suddenly a teenager was standing between Spike and the bounty. She was tall, with brown hair, blue eyes, and a voice like a valley girl. "What are you, like, doing with my dad?!"  
  
Spike stepped back in surprise. "This is your daughter?!"  
  
"Yeah," the man said, put a hand on her shoulder. "Cute, ain't she?"  
  
The girl grinned at Spike. "You're pretty cute, youself, aren't ya? Wanna come have a drink?"  
  
Spike shook his head nervously, backing away. "Sorry, I've got a... meeting to get to." He turned and walked quickly down the alley, searching his pocket for his communicator. "Jet? Jet, are you there?"  
  
"Loud and clear."  
  
"I'm going to get you for that one."  
  
"Dead end?"  
  
"Worse. Over and out."  
  
---------  
  
A drum began pounding right next to Faye, causing her to jump. "I hate carnivals," she said for the hundredth time, looking around at the gaily colored streets. "Why am I in Chinatown?!" she muttered, also for the hundredth time. "Do these people ever sleep?" More drums joined the first as the Dragon dance began. This dragon was ten people long, with two holding up its enormous head. It danced about in circles, the head looking around at everyone. Faye shivered at the huge eyes as their gaze passed over her. "Creepy," she muttered. "Well," she said with a sigh, "there won't be that many brown haired men with blind daughters in this city."  
  
Suddenly, up ahead she noticed a man with brown hair cut the same way as the bounty's. She could only see his back, but he appeared to be carrying the black haired girl. Fyae decided, just in case, she'd better get a closer look. Just as she snuck up behind the man, he turned to smile at her. She instantly realized this wasn't the bounty, for several reasons. The face was off. This guy was wearing glasses. And rather than a little girl, he was carrying a black-haired marrionette who stared at her with glass eyes.  
  
Faye sighed, turning away. "Hope Jet's found something," she muttered.  
  
--------  
  
Jet was in a grocery shop, in the frozen food isle. A light mist crept around the floor, chilling his feet. He pretended to be paying rapt attention to the frozen carrots, but in fact he was waiting for the bounty to come straight to him. Someone walked past behind him. He couldn't see who is was, but by the blurry reflection in the glass door of the freezer he was fairly tall. Jet glanced over his shoulder, and recognized the man from the picture he had seen. This was Jonah.  
  
Someone else walked past, and bumped into his leg. "Excuse me," said a voice. Jet glanced down and saw the little girl from the picture, and was convinced further. He kept an eye on her as she ran forward, feeling in front of her until she found her father's leg. Jet reached into his pocket and pulled out his communicator. "Spike, I've found the-"  
  
There was someone standing there, in the shadow of the snack isle. She was wearing a black cloak, the hood pulled over her head. He knew it was a woman from the width of her shoulders, by the shape of the hand that held the cloak in place. And as she raised her head Jet saw a pair of blue eyes so pale they looked like white orbs. Something reached into his mind at that moment, though like a caress or more like a strike, he couldn't tell. But suddenly he was collapsing backward onto the glass case. Blackness overcame him.  
  
-----------  
  
Spike shook his partner awake, slapping him on the face and shaking his shoulders. "Jet! You okay?"  
  
Jet slowly came to. He was lying on the floor, surrounded by broken glass. Some of it was embedded in his hands.  
  
"What the hell happened?" Spike asked. "You were just lying here like you'd had a heart attack."  
  
"I found the bounty," Jet said, rubbing his head. "Then, there was this woman..."  
  
Spike put one of Jet's arms over his shoulder, helping him to his feet. "Come on," he said. "Let's get those hands bandaged."  
  
"At least now we'll have a lead," Faye said, walking up. She glared at Jet. "A sure lead."  
  
Jet shook his head slightly as they walked out. "There's something going on below the surface," Jet muttered. "This could get more dangerous than we imagined."  
  
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Okeeyay, things are getting strange. Well, even I'm confused at this point. What's going on? You'll have to review to find out! *yelling at her Muses* WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU GUYS THINKING?! 


	3. Pinball wizard

Disclaimer: I don't own Cowboy Bebop or "Tommy", an album by The Who (which was my inspiration for this fic).  
  
A/N: This has been my first fic on Fanfiction.net, and I have loved getting so many great reviews! This fic is far from over, but I hope it stays as good as it already is! I also changed my name: Charles Lewis is my dad's penname, but at last he allowed me to use FekketC! So here's the mystical elf-girl, FekketC, saying heeeeeeere's chapter three!   
  
Eyesight to the Blind  
  
By FekketC  
  
"Daddy?"  
  
"Yes, Erika?"  
  
"Are we in space, yet?"  
  
Jonah's hands clutched the wheel nervously. He had taken the required courses in high school, but he had never actually driven a zip craft. This new one was wide and black, with just enough room for him and his daughter. "Not yet. We're still on the runway awaiting clearance."  
  
"Oh." Erika clutched the back of her father's seat. "Are you sure they'll let us through?" she asked suddenly.  
  
Jonah smiled. "I paid the pass and followed all the rules. You see, Erika, when you do things right people will just let you walk past."  
  
Erika sighed, leaning her head against the seat. "How much longer do we have to lie to everyone?"  
  
Jonah winced. "Don't call it that, Erika. It's not lying, it's just... playing pretend. And don't worry, it won't be much longer. We just need to get to Ganymede." He frowned, annoyed, and hit a button on his communicator. "Hey, we've been waiting out here for a half hour!" he said, trying to stay calm.  
  
"We're sorry, sir, but there was a man requesting a delay until he could speak to you."  
  
"Who the heck is he?"  
  
"He said his name is Spike Spiegel."  
  
Jonah gasped and slammed his foot down on the pedal. Bursting out of the hangar he flew to the nearest runway, taking off as fast as he could.  
  
--------  
  
Session 3  
  
Pinball wizard  
  
-------  
  
Spike looked up from the picture on the screen, through the windshield at the black ship taking off hurriedly. With a shrug he started up the Swordfish and took off after it. Punching a few buttons he tried to get a connection with the black ship, but they wouldn't answer. "Oh well," he said, a slight smile crossing his face.  
  
-------  
  
"Daddy, what's going on?!"  
  
Jonah pushed the zip craft as hard as he dared, willing it to go fast enough to escape. Out of the corner of one eye he saw the red ship, out of the other eye he saw the communicator blinking. Ignoring both he gunned the engine, feeling the ship begin to shake as they broke through the atmosphere.  
  
"Daddy, say something!"  
  
"Everything's under control," Jonah cried desperately, as if trying to convince himself. The ship felt ready to shake apart around him.  
  
Then suddenly they were out, in space. Erika pressed a hand against the window, feeling the cold pressing through to her fingers. She grinned, her pale eyes sparkling. "Now we're in space?"  
  
"Yes," Jonah said, half-relieved. Spinning the ship in a U-turn he plotted a bee-line for Ganymede. "We're going to have to go fast to get away," he said.  
  
"Get away from who?" Erika asked, turning her face toward him.  
  
He place a hand on her head comfortingly. "Just some man trying to bother us."  
  
"Oh," she said. "What does he look like? Who is he?"  
  
"A bounty hunter," Jonah said quietly. "I read about him. Don't worry, though, we'll get away from-"  
  
Suddenly the pointed red craft was in front of him, and he could see inside the cockpit. The man was smiling, and gave a friendly wave. He pointed at the communicator in his own cockpit, and reluctantly Jonah picked it up. "Hey," said the voice. "We're from an old friend. We're not going to hurt anyone, we just need to talk-"  
  
"Can it!" Jonah yelled into the communicator, not wanted to say anything stronger in front of the little girl. "If you're from Hope's 'grandmother', then tell her to go boil her head!" He slammed the communicator down, smiling when Erika giggled at his insult.  
  
Spike stared at the communicator. "And now comes the time for decision," he said quietly. He looked up at the black zip craft as its pilot planned a path around him. The money, and a possibly innocent old woman, or was he selling these people to an evil witch? "Either way, I need answers." He made his decision quickly, just then the black zip craft darted to the left. Spike was quick to mimic the action, still in the way.  
  
Jonah frowned in annoyance. He usually liked persistent people, but this wasn't one of those times. He stared long and hard at the Swordfish in front of him, trying to figure out how best to evade it.  
  
"Daddy?"  
  
Jonah glanced down at Erika. "What is it?" he asked distractedly.  
  
"It's unlucky to sail an unnamed ship."  
  
Jonah smiled wryly. "Your mother tell you that?"  
  
"Yup!"  
  
"Well then. How about the Naomi?"  
  
"Why Naomi?"  
  
Jonah slammed his foot down, dodging to the right, but the Swordfish was in front of him in a flash. "We almost named you Naomi, after a friend of your mothers. A friend who... who died before you were born."  
  
Erika grinned. "Then that's a perfect name. Now come on, Naomi, get us out of here!"  
  
Jonah nodded, and with a roar slammed the zip craft to one side and over the Swordfish before Spike had time to react. Then it was off, dodging around other ships and space debris. Spike glanced over his shoulder, still smiling. "Okay, if that's how you want to play."  
  
/Ever since I was a young boy, I played the silver ball/  
  
Slamming the pedal, Spike did an upside-down U-turn and sped after his quarry. Looking over his shoulder, Jonah noticed, and rolled his eyes.  
  
/From Soho down to Brighton, I must've played 'em all/  
  
"Hey, Erika?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"What do you make of this guy?"  
  
Erika closed her eyes for a moment. "He's..." She searched for the right word.  
  
/I ain't seen nothin' like him in any amusement hall/  
  
"Is he mean, or greedy?" Jonah asked, dodging around a fat tanker. He was really starting to get the hang of this.  
  
"No, in fact, he's... nice."  
  
/That deaf, dumb and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball/  
  
Spike sped up, the nose of his ship clipping the left wing of the Naomi. "Come on, you don't want to play?" he called.  
  
Jonah couldn't hear him, but swerved away and circled a trucker ten cars long. "Nice or not," he said ruefully, "he's good."  
  
Erika squeezed her father's hand. "You can outrun him," she said confidently. Jonah looked down at her, smiling, and broke away from the trucker. Throwing himself into the mad dash he jumped into a crowd of minis and hid there for a moment before dodging out and behind another tanker. Looking all around he couldn't see the Swordfish anywhere. He sat back, heaving a sigh of relief. "We're home free," he said, patting his daughter on the head.  
  
The ship shook suddenly, coming to a stop. Jonah looked back and saw the Hammerhead, its grappling hook latched on to the Naomi's damaged wing. "This is the Bebop," Jet's voice said over the communicator. "You are under arrest."  
  
"Um, Jet," Spike said on a private connection. "There's no real bounty on them, so isn't this kidnapping?"  
  
Jet scratched his head. "Uh, well... they don't know that."  
  
-------  
  
The woman looked up as she came out of the bathroom, saw the man standing in the shadows and started to scream, but then there were hands over her mouth, a finger prodding a nerve in her neck and knocking her off into unconsciousness.  
  
------  
  
Jonah kept his arms firmly around Erika, carrying her out of the cockpit. He looked around at the inside of the Bebop's docking bay, shivering in the chill air. He looked over at Spike, who had just parked the Swordfish and gotten out. "Alright, we're here, what do you want?"  
  
Spike's voice was level, his eyes calm. "Hope Johnson isn't dead, is she?"  
  
Jonah struggled to keep his face calm. "She is."  
  
Spike raised an eyebrow, closing his eyes. "No body. No witnesses. A bloodstain that tastes suspiciously like ketchup and tobassco sauce. And two separate testimonies of her death that don't match up."  
  
Jonah took a step back, his eye on the door to the cockpit of the Naomi. Erika was silent, listening to Spike's voice.  
  
"One stated that a burglar came and killed her. The other states that she fell out a window. Neither sounds like Hope. From what I hear she was very agile for a blind person, and could have defended herself even in the dark."  
  
Jonah whirled around suddenly, trying to leap up into the cockpit, but Spike grabbed his leg and held him back. "I just want some answers," Spike said quietly. "That's all, I swear."  
  
Jonah stayed frozen in that position for a long while. He felt the bounty hunter's grip on his leg, knew he wouldn't let go until he got what he wanted. He looked down into his little daughter's unseeing eyes, and sighed very slowly. "I'll tell you," he said, "but you won't believe me."  
  
-------------------------------  
  
thaaaaaat's chapter 3! well, coming up next is the story of Jonah and Hope, and maybe a few answers to the questions you've all been wondering!  
  
1. Who is creepy snack-aisle lady?  
  
2. What was/is this strange power of Hope's?  
  
3. What does evil "starts with b, rhymes with witch" lady want with Hope and her daughter?  
  
4. Does Jet's arm ever rust?  
  
Okay, three out of four ain't bad. It's all next time, in Session 4, Cousin Kevin. Appropriate name, if you've ever heard the song. 


	4. Cousin Kevin

Disclaimer: I don't own Cowboy Bebop or "Tommy", an album by The Who (which was my inspiration for this fic).  
  
A/N: So many wonderful reviews! Thank you guys so much! Um, what did someone (sorry I can't remember your name!) mean about this being a 'true account of bounty hunting'? That one left my tiny brain confused... Oh, well. Whatever you meant, thank you! Now go read the chapter! Go on!  
  
Eyesight to the Blind  
  
By FekketC  
  
"It was so long ago, I almost can't remember."  
  
Jonah was sitting on the cold metal floor of the bay. Spike was sitting just a few feet away. Erika was still in her father's lap, her arms around his neck. She had never heard this story before.  
  
"I met Hope at a filling station of all places. I was with some friends coming home from a highschool party, and I saw her arguing with the pumping machine. She was driving this beat-up zip craft, an egg yellow color. She kept kicking the machine and I later learned her credit card had gotten stuck inside. So I walked up, took out a nail file and got the card out for her. Then I looked in her eyes and she smiled at me, and it was like..."  
  
Faye rolled her eyes, stepping out from behind the Redtail. "Cut to the chase, already."  
  
Jonah looked curiously at her and continued. "I asked her for her number, but she said she didn't have one. She said she didn't have a home, so I called one of my friends' girlfriends and asked if they would take a guest for a while. Suddenly Hope and I were staying on the same block and then we were dating. It went on for about six months, the most wonderful time of my life.  
  
"Then, it was a rainy day."  
  
----------  
  
Session 4  
  
Cousin Kevin  
  
---------  
  
It was a very long stone street that reached out and out to the horizon. It was impossible to see the end of it because even if human sight could extend as far as that day went, the fog and rain created a curtain that masked most of the view.  
  
Suddenly, from under that curtain emerged a young couple, both about eighteen. They were holding a raincoat above their heads and talking about something. The woman was smiling, her eyes closed. The man was chuckling. The beginning of a beard was on his face. They walked up to the front of an apartment building and sat down under the eaves where it was dry.  
  
The woman pulled the raincoat from her head and felt the mist on her face. "Jonah, I have never been so happy," she declared. "We have got to go back there tomorrow."  
  
Jonah's fingers wrapped around hers and he felt a longing building inside him. The longing he felt whenever they had to part, even if just for the night. She was taking classes at the university which were funded by her job at the bakery just down the street, so they saw each other often duing the day. But he hated to say goodbye even if only for a few hours.  
  
At last she stood, turning, her hand on the doorknob. Her eyes were open, looking sightlessly down as her fingers identified the doorknob as brass, dull and in need of an oiling. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said quietly, opening the door and going inside. "Goodnight," she called, closing the door behind her.  
  
For a long while he sat there under the eaves, his hand in his pocket. He was feeling the tiny velvet box that he had bought the week before, the one he hadn't had the nerve to give to her yet. "Tomorrow," he said to himself, standing. "Tomorrow I'll ask her." He turned and walked down the street.  
  
He did many things, jumping from one job to the next though his major was journalism. His interests leapt from one subject to another like a frog on lilly pads, and at the moment his room was full of boxes of books. Fantasy, to be exact. Sometimes he wanted to give up writing about things that actually happened and start relating the made-up tales of some made-up people in a wonderful, made-up world. But that was how a child thinks and he knew he needed to persue a real career.  
  
But as he stepped into his room, filled with the boxes of books, a wave of panic crashed over him. He leaned against the wall, his hands over his face, and bit his tongue to keep from screaming. Wrenching open the door, he tore back out, down the stairway, past his friends coming up the stairs, and across the street to Hope's apartment building. He pounded on the door, shouting her name. At last an old woman came to the door. She looked frightened out of her wits.  
  
"Hope, he took Hope," she said to him. Her eyes were wide, and she was shaking. He dashed past her and up the stairs to the room that Hope shared with a woman named Naomi.  
  
Naomi looked up at him, tears on her face. "I tried to stop him," she said hysterically, "but he went out the window!"  
  
Jonah moved to the window and looked out, but there was no one there. Taking Naomi's shoulders he sat her down on the bed and looked into her pale blue eyes. "Who took her?" he said quietly, trying to calm her down.  
  
"A man in leather, a big man, with red eyes," she said, starting to gain control of herself. "And he said... said he'd come back for me. Said he could only carry one at a time. What the hell was he talking about?" She was crying now, her face buried on his shoulder.  
  
"Naomi, I need you to listen very carefully," he was saying, a plan forming in his mind. Was he crazy? The proper thing to do was to call the police. But suddenly he felt like this wasn't the real world anymore, this was a fantasy, and he was trapped at the center of it. He relayed his plan to Naomi, who nodded and wiped her eyes.  
  
She stood up, pounding her palm with her fist. "Right." When she wasn't hysterical, she was actually very brave, and even smiled down at him. Her smile was scared, but determined. "I'll... do what I can."  
  
--------  
  
The man came back at exactly ten o'clock that evening. Jonah was watching from his window across the street. The man was indeed huge, clothed in leather. He leapt in Naomi's window, and reappeared a moment later. No screams, no sounds of struggle. Either Naomi was following the plan or the man had knocked her unconscious.  
  
Jonah ran down the fire escape, the remote in his hand. A tiny light beeped on the screen, corresponding with the tracker he had attached to Naomi's shirt. Looking around he saw his friend Koji's bicycle and leapt on, whispering a silent apology. Then he was speeding down the street after the invisible kidnapper.  
  
At last he was at the docks, riding around in circles. He saw a warehouse, old and boarded up, and parked the bike outside. The tracker had guided him to this place, and by climbing on top of a crate, he could look through a dusty window. Lying in the corner were Hope and Naomi, both lying as if unconscious. Leaning against the wall was the leather-wearing man, and doling out a wad of money to him was an old woman. Her hair was white, and in a bun. As she turned to put her wallet back into her purse, Jonah saw her emerald eyes, her rich clothing. This was the woman Hope had told him about. Her stepmother. More like a grandmother, really, which was why Hope had always called her 'my evil grandmother' on the few occasions she actually talked about the old woman.  
  
"That's all of it," he heard the old woman say. "Now get out of here."  
  
The leather-man nodded towards the two girls. "What're you going to do with them?"  
  
"None of your business, but, would you put them in the trunk of my car for an extra hundred?"  
  
The man shrugged, walking towards the girls. He picked up Hope, slinging her over his shoulder, and walked out. Running around the corner of the warehouse Jonah saw him open the trunk of a minivan and start to shove Hope in. This would be his only chance.  
  
"Let go of her!" Jonah cried, running out. He wished he had brought a gun, or a sharp stick, or anything but his bare fists. The man looked up at him, setting the girl slowly in the trunk, and turned.  
  
"And what if I don't?" he said, a vicious smile on his face as he started to walk toward him. "What're you going to do?"  
  
Jonah made a fist and punched the man in the stomach. It was like hitting a wall. The man laughed, which was not encouraging. Leaping up Jonah struck at his jaw, but again there was no effect. Suddenly the huge man reached down and grabbed him around the neck, lifted him into the air, and started to squeeze. Jonah struggled, trying to loosen the man's hold on his neck, but bones were beginning to crack and his head was pounding. He kicked at the man's stomach but couldn't reach. There were spots dancing before his eyes now, and all he could see was Hope lying helplessly in the trunk of the car. "Hope," he whispered, his struggles weakening.  
  
"Hope!" a voice cried from behind him. He couldn't see, but he knew it was Naomi. "Let go of me!" she was yelling, and then screamed with frustration.  
  
It was like a tidal wave from the horizon, unexpected and terrifying. It was rushing at him with no way to stop it, it was going to sweep over him and the man holding his neck, and then it was crushing him against the pavement. And then everything went black.  
  
-----  
  
"Jonah, wake up, please!"  
  
His eyes opened, slowly. He had, officially, the worst headache ever felt by a human being. His breathing hurt, thinking hurt. But now, after the tidal wave had swept over his mind, it felt like he was floating in cool water. Water that reached down into the scratches on his neck, and into his screaming mind, and started to sweep away the pain and injury.  
  
Out of the corner of his eye he could see Naomi sitting against the wall, a dumbstruck look on her face. "I... I have... no idea..." she mumbled.  
  
He looked up at Hope. She was leaning over him, her eyes closed, her hand on his chest. There were tears on her face. "Hope... what happened?" he asked weakly.  
  
Naomi stood up shakily. "I did this thing... it was like my mind was screaming, and then the leather guy and you and the old hag were unconscious." She peered down at Hope. "Hope, what is... is..." Her voice was broken for a moment as she tried to catch her breath. "What is going on, Hope?"  
  
Hope kept her eyes closed, her hand on Jonah's chest. "Ever since I was born I could do this. I could heal people. At first it was kind of random, but I practiced and learned how to control it. Then, my parents died and that old woman found out about my powers, wanted to adopt me. She finally won the case over my uncle, my favorite uncle, and started secretly abusing me into using my powers. She runs a crime syndicate on Callisto, and her men were constantly coming in with bullet wounds and scrapes. She made me heal them. One time she brought in a corpse and told me to bring him back to life. I couldn't, so she beat me and beat me until I couldn't move. The body stayed dead." She opened her eyes and nodded towards Naomi. "I'm not sure, but I think we're just freaks. You know, strange."  
  
"We?" Naomi asked incredulously.  
  
"When I found out about my power I read everything I could on psychic powers. There are all kinds, like telepathy, healing, levitation... and a thing called mind-screaming. I think that's what you have, from what just happened, and aparently my evil grandmother knew about it, too. You don't know how to control it yet, though, so everyone around you was hit."  
  
"Except you," Jonah said at last, sitting up and rubbing his head. The headache was nearly gone. "You weren't effected."  
  
"I think it's my power," she said quietly, sitting in a lotus position with her chin in her hands. "So what do we do, now?"  
  
"Go home, I guess. After I call the police." Naomi stood up, looking from the leather-clad man to the old woman. "And then, Hope, you're gonna tell me everything you know about this psychic stuff." She smiled ruefully. "Might come in useful, you know?"  
  
Hope nodded. "Yes, I think so."  
  
------------  
  
Hope insisted on letting Jonah lean on her as they walked home. Naomi had stayed behind to keep an eye on the two felons until the police arrived. Jonah had left the bike for her to come home on. "It has been a strange night," Jonah said quietly. "Why hadn't you told me about this power of yours?"  
  
Hope shrugged. "I guess... I was afraid you would turn on me like my stepmother did." She smiled. "Kind of silly, huh?"  
  
"I never would," Jonah promised, putting his arm around her shoulders. "In fact-" He stopped, blushing in the dark.  
  
Hope could feel his embarrassment. Among her lesser powers was a strong empathy, one that would one day be passed on to her daughter. "What is it?" she asked.  
  
Jonah pulled away from her and knelt on the wet sidewalk, pulling the ring box from his pocket. Taking Hope's hand he ran her fingertips over the ring, the velvet box, so she could see with her hands what he was asking her.  
  
----------  
  
"We went home that night and the next morning told all our freinds we were going to be married. We never told anyone about the leather-clad man, and we told the old woman who lived in Hope's building that he was a burglar. But just after a great old party had started, and everyone was toasting our future marriage..."  
  
Faye had sat down next to Spike, intent on the story. "Yeah? What happened next?"  
  
"We got news from the police. Naomi was dead."  
  
Erika clutched her fathers shirt collar with her tiny hand. "What happened to her?"  
  
"They never even found the body. The old woman and the leather-man were gone. But there was a bloodstain that covered the entire parking lot, and a DNA test showed that it was Naomi's."  
  
Jet had been sitting in the cockpit of the Hammerhead, listening to the story. Now he noticed something on the radar, and paled. "But she's not dead either," he said suddenly. He jumped down from the cockpit, rubbing his head. He looked down at Jonah. "Is she?"  
  
Jonah shook his head, holding up two fingers. "Scout's honor," he said.  
  
Jet sighed, punching a panel on the wall. "This is the Bebop, called the unnamed ship. Who are you?"  
  
A voice crackled faintly over the com. Jet listened carefully, then nodded and turned it off. "Everybody out of the bay."  
  
Jonah stood, still holding Erika, and followed Faye and Spike out of the bay. Jet came out last, and closed and locked the door behind him. They all stood in the narrow hall as the roaring of the outer door opening got louder and louder, then softer and softer until it was gone. At last a green light over the door flashed on, and Jet opened it and led the way in. Parked next to the "Naomi" was a ecru ship shaped a bit like the Swordfish, but smaller. The cockpit opened, and a woman in a black cloak leapt out, holding a gun.  
  
"Naomi!" Jonah cried, rushing forward. The woman looked up, surprised and releived, and hugged both him and Erika at once. She was smiling, holding Jonah tight, and Erika was grinning as she felt Naomi's face with her fingers. "Where the heck have you been?" Jonah asked, pulling away. Erika slid down his leg and landed on the metal floor, standing and holding his leg.  
  
"Well, I guess you thought I died back at the warehouse," Naomi said, scratching her chin. "But that huge guy, the one with the leather? He woke up and started to beat me to a pulp. Just as the sirens started wailing, the old woman woke up and told him to forget me and run. By then I was bleeding pretty badly, so the man dropped me and said he'd come back for me later. I managed to crawl away, and after a few month's recovery started training my power."  
  
"Yes, I know," Jet said, walking up. "At least, about your power."  
  
Naomi smiled apologetically. "I'm so sorry. I thought you were trying to hurt Jonah and the little one." She knelt next to Erika and smiled. "What's your name?"  
  
While Erika introduced herself to Naomi, Spike scratched his head and looked quizically at Jet. "What are you talking about?" he asked.  
  
"In the grocery store, when you found me zoned out by the frozen vegetables," Jet explained. "It was Naomi that did it."  
  
Spike nodded. "Well, then that's another mystery solved. There's only one left, now." He turned to Jonah, who had been watching him. "Where's Hope?"  
  
Jonah hesitated, then pulled out a communicator. "Her death was a big lie. A game of pretend. We knew there was a gang of thugs, being sent after her by the old witch," he explained. "We decided we had to get away again. So Hope climbed down the fire escape and bought a ticket on a hyperspace flight to Ganymede. We said we'd meet after that. Then, it was just a matter of pouring ketchup and tabasco sauce on the carpet, lying to the neighbor, and making a run for it."  
  
Erika grinned up at her father. "Did I play a good pretend?"  
  
Jonah put his hand on the top of his daughter's head. "Yes, you did, and now we're going to go meet Mommy."  
  
"No chance," Naomi said suddenly, turning away. "I was on Ganymede, working at a temporary job while I tried to find you guys. I checked with the old woman's syndicate on Callisto, and intercepted an encrypted code. They kidnapped her without a sound on the flight to Ganymede. She's on Callisto now."  
  
Jonah stared at her back. "No, no, please, no..." he whispered.  
  
"Mommy!" Erika cried, burying her face in Jonah's knee. "Daddy, get Mommy back!" she cried.  
  
"I..." Jonah was shaking now, as he knelt and hugged his little daughter. "I don't know if I can."  
  
There was a long moment when the ship's bay was silent except for the sounds of Erika's sobs. Naomi was shaking with anger, frustration and helplessness. Jonah's words were true and she knew it. There were other people, working for the Yakuza Syndicate, who had powers. She and Jonah could never get past them on their own.  
  
"I'll help," Spike said suddenly, as if reading her thoughts. She looked up at him, curious, but he only smiled. "I've been wanting to meet this Hope that everyone's been talking about. And anyway, I'd only be bored, sitting around here."  
  
Faye nodded. "I can relate to that. Count me in."  
  
Jet rubbed his chin. "I suppose I could help. Maybe hack into their database, figure out the best route to take to get inside and out."  
  
A laugh burst the serious tension, and everyone looked up to see Edward standing next to Jonah. "Edward will help, too!" she cried, hugging Erika.  
  
Erika smiled. "Then maybe we really can get Mommy back."  
  
"Yes," Naomi said. "I'm sure we can."  
  
---------------------  
  
Bing! Done like dinner! So, what do you think? Come on, review! Man, I'm on a roll. Hey, peoples, remember when I asked you to review and tell me what you think might happen next? Well, you can stop now because I have the perfect ending lined up in my head, with fight scenes, chases, and plenty of romance and horror! It's all next time, on Yu Yu- I mean, in this fic! So read if you please, review if you want, flame if you must, and stay gravy! 


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